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Afghan civilian killed by Australian troops

TONY EASTLEY: The Australian Defence Force has confirmed its troops shot and killed a civilian in southern Afghanistan at the weekend.

The incident happened only hours after three Australian soldiers were shot dead and seven wounded by a rogue Afghan soldier in Kandahar on Saturday morning.

The ADF says it will fully cooperate with a local investigation into the shooting of the civilian.

Afghanistan correspondent Sally Sara reports from Kabul.

SALLY SARA: The Australian Defence Force has revealed an Afghan man was shot and killed by Australian soldiers at Tarin Kot in Uruzgan Province on Saturday.

The man was riding a motorbike. The ADF says its soldiers opened fire when he failed to follow directions to stop.

The victim was a local aged in his twenties named Hayatullah, who ran a phone card stall.

The incident happened as Australian soldiers were securing a site for a meeting of the provincial reconstruction team.

The ADF has released a statement saying it takes all reasonable steps to ensure its operations don't put the lives of civilians in jeopardy.

But the killing has drawn anger from some residents of Tarin Kot.

Engineer Abdul Sameh Sharafat was at the scene.

He says the Australians gave first aid to the victim but he died a few minutes later.

(Abdul Sameh Sharafat speaking)

He says local people were shouting and saying different things. He says they were kept back and the soldiers were not allowing them to come any closer.

Another local man, who is too scared to be identified because of fears of repercussions, says the young man was riding his motorbike but was slow to stop when he was ordered to do so by the Australians.

(Matiullah Khan speaking)

Police chief and local militia leader Matiullah Khan says the shooting happened close to the police station in Tarin Kot.

He's critical of the Australians for stopping and checking vehicles.

(Matiullah Khan speaking)

Mr Khan says the Australians shouldn't take action in such an area and should instead report to the police. He says the Australian soldiers are not familiar with the people.

The shooting in Uruzgan happened on Saturday, only hours after three Australian soldiers were killed and seven wounded by a rogue Afghan officer in Kandahar province.

The ADF says the condition of the wounded soldiers has improved and preparations are being made to transfer them to a military hospital at Landstuhl in Germany.

It's still unclear why the news of the killing of the civilian in Uruzgan was not released until late yesterday.

The ADF is promising to cooperate into investigations into both shootings.

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